Thursday, September 24, 2009

Sarkozy chides Obama over his naive and counterproductive Nuclear agenda

From the Telegraph UK:
World leaders have backed a... resolution calling for a world without nuclear weapons at a United Nations Security Council hosted by Barack Obama [on Thursday].

The President hailed the agreement as a landmark in halting the spread of nuclear weapons..., but forceful statements from other leaders on the need to act against Iran following the vote threatened to upstage the special meeting.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, came close to mocking his American counterpart for the good intentions, which Mr Obama had heralded as an "historic" step towards nuclear abolition, even though it set no specific targets or fresh mandates.

"We live in a real world not a virtual world," Sarkozy told the 15-member council.

"And the real world expects us to take decisions.

"President Obama dreams of a world without weapons ... but right in front of us two countries are doing the exact opposite.

"Iran since 2005 has flouted five security council resolutions. North Korea has been defying council resolutions since 1993.

"I support the extended hand of the Americans, but what good has proposals for dialogue brought the international community? More uranium enrichment and declarations by the leaders of Iran to wipe a UN member state off the map."...

The sharp-tongued French leader even implied that Mr Obama's resolution 1887 had used up valuable diplomatic energy.

"If we have courage to impose sanctions together it will lend viability to our commitment to reduce our own weapons and to making a world without nuke weapons," he said.

Mr Sarkozy has previously called the US president's disarmament crusade "naïve"...

Though [the new resolution] merely consolidated many elements previously endorsed in the Security Council..., bringing them together in a single document... should add momentum to efforts to achieve these goals.

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